Bouncy ball
A bouncy ball, power ball or super ball is a popular polybutadiene rubber toy ball which rebounds proportionally to the amount of force used when thrown at a hard surface. The first such ball was the proprietary Super Ball. The Sky Ball is an example of another bouncy ball. Bouncy balls can often bounce over three stories high and can also be thrown against a wall and caught when bouncing back.[1]
In some countries, for example the United States and Denmark, they are often sold from bulk vending machines for 25 cents or more.
History
The Bouncy ball was invented by a California chemist named Norman Stingley. In 1965, Stingley spent his spare time experimenting with rubber. He compressed various scraps of synthetic rubber together under about 3500 pounds of pressure per square inch. The result was a compressed rubber ball with an extreme resilience and high bounce.[2]
Patent
References
- ^ "Magical LED Bouncing Ball". Kawai. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ http://bestballgames.wordpress.com/
Sources
- Frauenfelder, Mark; Sinclair, Carla; Branwyn, Gareth; Kreth, Will (Editors). (1995). "The Happy Mutant Handbook: Mischievous Fun for Higher Primates". New York, Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). ISBN 1-57322-502-9, pg..134-136
External links
- Superballs.com, a tribute site
- History of the Superball
- Kinematics of an Ultraelastic Rough Ball (free PDF)
- liketelevision.net Classic B&W TV commercial for Super Ball and for Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, c. 1970
- Applied Physics Engineering
- NPC Unlimited In electronic form on the iPhone.
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